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kumar_s
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Post by kumar_s »

Hi,

But i guess, not all country has been included for registration:wink:
I couldnt find the country 'INDIA' under the dragdown option in the Billing information Page.

-Kumar
roy
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Post by roy »

I assume there is no need to specificly ask they reply or not reply
Simply since Charter Members are recognized by the logo under their name.
So the Premium posters can see if you will only see a summary or the entire post and make their judgment on when and how to reply.

By definition this place never oferend online support as a free service so nothing is new there.

rleishman wrote:Guru advice costs, fair enough. I've received at least $50 assistance from the top5 in past.

Non-guru advice is free. Also fair enough. Sometimes its good, sometimes not so good. Often its too late.

But here's the problem: I occasionally connect to kill some time and answer some non-guru questions. But if I see that the last post is by a guru, I usually don't even read the post because 99 times out of 100 there is nothing further I can add. Lot's of people would do the same.

The thing is, the gurus (especially Ray - because we're both in the same time-zone - and Craig - because he doesn't sleep like humans do) check the site so much more frequently AND ANSWER EVERY NEW THREAD!

Upshot: whilst one-in-five (or more) questions could easily be answered for free, they wont be.

My prediction: there will be a lot more new posts starting with the words "NO PREMIUM POSTERS PLEASE".

As a question of etiquette, how do the Premium Posters feel about this? I don't think it is counter to the spirit of the site.
Roy R.
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GSSaru
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i am ok with you ,you said very nicely

Post by GSSaru »

aartlett wrote:I paid, I joined. If my $50 helps keep things running and gives me full access to all the top posters replies I'm WAY ahead.

I'm not a newbie, in fact I think I'm pretty good. Not in the top group but I get by. $50 is nothing compared to the time I've saved, the answers I've found and the knowledge I've been able to share. My current employers come to me first not the Enterprise architecht "guru's" for D/S questions and answers because they know that I'll get the answer if I don't know it. That's job continuing stuff for a consultant.

I never claim the knowledge is mine, they don't care, it's the answers that matter. If my money helps keeps this site up so our top 5 guru's can provide the answers, I'm not going to say no.

Congratulations to Kim Duke for cracking the 1/4 10K. Your utilities have been life savers.
rwierdsm
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Re: i am ok with you ,you said very nicely

Post by rwierdsm »

GSSaru wrote:
aartlett wrote:I paid, I joined. If my $50 helps keep things running and gives me full access to all the top posters replies I'm WAY ahead.

I'm not a newbie, in fact I think I'm pretty good. Not in the top group but I get by. $50 is nothing compared to the time I've saved, the answers I've found and the knowledge I've been able to share. My current employers come to me first not the Enterprise architecht "guru's" for D/S questions and answers because they know that I'll get the answer if I don't know it. That's job continuing stuff for a consultant.

I never claim the knowledge is mine, they don't care, it's the answers that matter. If my money helps keeps this site up so our top 5 guru's can provide the answers, I'm not going to say no.

Congratulations to Kim Duke for cracking the 1/4 10K. Your utilities have been life savers.
Just wanted to see if I get the cool 'Charter Member' logo beside my name.
Rob Wierdsma
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Re: i am ok with you ,you said very nicely

Post by rwierdsm »

Well, needless to say, I did pay.

I can't think of a better resource anywhere (other than Greg Sherry and Peter Paton who sit close to me :D) for DataStage help than Dsxchange. You'd probably gladly pay $50 for a good book on DS and, ultimately, this site provides at least as much utility as a good book on the subject.

I still think you premium content guys should be writing a DS book, however..... I'd pay another $50 for that!
Rob Wierdsma
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Re: i am ok with you ,you said very nicely

Post by kcbland »

Nothing has changed except 5 prolific posters in-depth answers will be partially (and arbitrarily) behind a button. There's nothing to prevent other experts from answering.

What's your beef? If premium posters are so important to answering questions, how is a different site that does not feature the premium posters change the situation? I don't think you are aware of the illogic of your arguments. You're saying the "hiding" of our answers make this site worthless, so you go start a site without benefit of our answers. I'm confused as to what you are attempting to do here.
Kenneth Bland

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Signature submission: Crucifix combined with leg triangle
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Re: i am ok with you ,you said very nicely

Post by kcbland »

Did you see us at IBM Live? Do you think this site paid for that? None of us are asking for contribution, we do that enough. We paid to go to IBM Live so you folks could meet us. We foot the entire cost of the hardware, we write the answers, post the free code. We pay our way ourselves. In order to defray costs and keep the site operating, we asked that some members pay a cost to get PREMIUM and in-depth answers. Do you even know how many answers really come down to reading the manuals first? Do you realize those few members will be paying the cost for everyone else? Consider it welfare for the DS initiates.

Now I'm done discussing this. :x
Kenneth Bland

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Fight name: Captain Hook
Signature knockout: right upper cut followed by left hook
Signature submission: Crucifix combined with leg triangle
gateleys
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Re: i am ok with you ,you said very nicely

Post by gateleys »

Dunno why gmorey is allowed to collect points and posts thru' his obstinate views. However, I do agree on some of the posts made by those members whose answer/question ratio is way above 1. It would be nice if DSXchange looked into arguments of these contributors. But beware of those members whose answers are always in the line of-
Why don't you search the forum? There are plenty of answers.
Most of us know that ..and do search the forum extensively.
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Post by whardeman »

Moderator, I confess. I committed a crime. I created a new forum.
I would just like to note, we at the DSXchange do NOT have a problem with anyone creating or promoting resources for DataStage, etc. external to this site. Vincent McBurney, for example has a blog that contains some outstanding material. Some members have posted links to Ascential's website and in particular their forum at http://developernet.ascential.com/. However, the following formulation is problematic and inappropriate:

"I am unhappy with this site, so I am going to use it to promote another site with the hopes of attracting people to it (and by implication away from this site)."

This is my interpretation of your attitude so far. I don't think I'm way off base here. I have instructed the moderators not to remove your links anymore, despite the fact that they may have been justified in doing so. Instead, I'm asking that you moderate your own tone and continue to enjoy the incredibly large amount of free material available here as well as whatever you are able to garner at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/datastage_users/. We will not feel compelled to "compete" with anyone else's site unless they force the issue.
And I don't want to have to pay a yearly fee to this site.
You will not be required to. Your membership will not be revoked if you do not choose to become a premium member. And if you do stick around, I think you will be surprised to find that your questions still get quality answers, even if they come from non-Premium posters.

In fact, the only way you'll lose the privilege of using the DSXchange is if you continue to use the forum to complain irrationally instead of to constructively debate issues or (of course) to get answers to DS problems. We haven't had to ban any real community people yet (just naughty spammers), and WE DON'T WANT TO, but this is beginning to create a very negative atmosphere.

Please accept my invitation to be a happy FREE contributor/benificiary to this site. We will be happy to have you. The same goes for anyone else who may agree with your sentiments.

Walter Hardeman, Webmaster
roy
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Re: i am ok with you ,you said very nicely

Post by roy »

Dear gmorey,
Since you mentioned me I thought I should state my thoughts on how you handle this as well.

1. You made your point long ago, but you continue to harass our community again and again repeating what you have already said countless times.
2. You continue to disrespect some of our more respectable and valuable members.
3. As far as I know no Inner Circle member is paid (unless employed by the companies sponsoring this site).
4. Although I'm a moderator of this forum and spend time both answering and moderating several forums here I'm doing it all free of charge and other then earning the trust and been given moderation rights for several forums I'm just like any other regular member here.
5. In My Humble and objective Opinion you've already gone way to far and aggressive then needs be.

I can go on and on...

In short this site is not trying to shut you up it's simply implementing some rules (regarding the links you posted).
Your posts are not being deleted :!:
Your account is not revoked :!:
Nor does anyone threaten they will be :!:
But I can tell you this:
As already said earning points and number of posts is not something you earn by saying the same thing over and over again.
Having that said I think its is my privilege and duty to take actions in those lines, meaning it is my intention to join all your posts to the initial post and remove all other posts you made in this thread.
By doing this you will retain only 1 post from all this and all others will be deducted from your posts number.
If I see fit to do this in other posts as well concerning the same issue I might repeat the process as needed.

Bare in mind as I said I'm not trying to shut you up or anything in those lines, I'm simply protecting the value of our recognition system for worthy posts that contribute to solving other member's issues while developing with the tools covered by this site.

Regards,
Forum Moderator.
Roy R.
Time is money but when you don't have money time is all you can afford.

Search before posting:)

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gmorey
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Post by gmorey »

My last post on this topic:

First of all, I like this forum. I thank Kenneth Bland and the moderator and the site administrator for this site. It is needed -- in a big way. DataStage is a great product with not-so-good documentation, and we users need something like this site to supplement the product.

Without good answers, all we'd have is questions, so I'd like to tell all the posters who answer questions that you all are fantastic. I've certainly found help here.

If I've made anyone here angry, I apologize. My purpose here is not to ruffle feathers. Yes, I know you probably don't have feathers for real.
:)
Greg Morey
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Post by whardeman »

If I've made anyone here angry, I apologize. My purpose here is not to ruffle feathers. Yes, I know you probably don't have feathers for real.
No feathers to speak of. :)

And no problem, Greg. I do sincerely hope you continue to enjoy and get value from this site. That's what we're here to bring about. I'm really looking forward to the things ahead.
Last edited by whardeman on Wed Feb 01, 2006 2:36 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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